Entrepreneurship today is an attractive option for future graduates due to various perks and benefits. However, there are also challenges and disadvantages that come with being an entrepreneur. This study is aimed at investigating the motivating factors and challenges that student entrepreneurs are facing when starting their own business in Sweden. For this study, a qualitative approach is chosen, and semi-structured interviews are used on six student entrepreneurs that live in Sweden. The results are analyzed by using thematic analysis and the study concluded that student entrepreneurs are motivated by the desire of independence, flexible schedules, following family traditions or parental self-employment, the desire to turn their hobby into a money-making enterprise, creativity, the fear of unemployment, social status, motivating others, personal skills and entrepreneurial capabilities. Moreover, the study also discovered three new motivational factors such as support from their previous employer, influence from friends and other people on the internet and the desire to experience new and exciting things. When it comes to challenges, student entrepreneurs are facing difficulties such as lack of resources, being a student while running a business, lack of networks, lack of knowledge, lack of entrepreneurial and administrative skills, lack of support from family/ business partner, lack of legal/formal help, negative personality traits and dealing with tax systems. Furthermore, two new challenges are also identified in the study that are the lack of credibility and the cultural differences and language barriers.

Due to different types of benefits and advantages, it is an attractive alternative for graduates to become entrepreneurs, either during their studies or after completing their education. In addition to the benefits and advantages of becoming an entrepreneur, there can be a number of challenges and disadvantages that they face. This study aims to explore the motivating factors and challenges that student entrepreneurs face when it comes to starting their own company in Sweden. A qualitative approach is what has been selected for this study and tenstudent entrepreneurs who live in Sweden have been interviewed through open ended semistructured interviews. Using a thematic analysis, the results could be analyzed, and this study concluded that student entrepreneurs are motivated by flexible schedules, independence, follow in the parents' footsteps as self-employed, preserve family tradition, transform passion/ hobby into business, outlet for their creativity, they do not have to worry to become unemployed and their own personal skills motivate them. The challenges that student entrepreneurs face and have difficulty with are lack of resources, lack of networks, lack of administrative and entrepreneurial skills, lack of legal / formal help from various organizations, lack of support from business partners or family, negative personality traits and management of tax systems. A new challenge was also identified, and this challenge is about forming a strong and sustainable team and when it comes to finding the right people to hire.

Leadership is a fundamental function in all organizations and societies; It is the act that makes others get missions completed. However, to lead is a difficult act to master and those who lead professionally seem to have one thing in common: they have experience in the field of leadership. Based on earlier understandings and research, the authors have recognized the importance and motivation of student leadership; Individuals who enter in a leadership act from a young age. It is a time of period where the learning and development of leadership is recognized. Student leadership is therefore an arena for young individuals to develop their leadership skills and attributes, make mistakes and learn from them. It is considered essential to acknowledge this kind of leadership is not related to what kind of educational programs these individuals receive in their own studies, instead the focus in this thesis is leadership outside the university programs. The purpose of this study is to acknowledge the qualities and experiences young individuals receive by actively being involved in a leadership role. The analysis chapter discussed the theories of traditional leadership and modern leadership in accordance with the meaning of student leadership and compared them with empirical findings from 5 different respondents that were included in the term of Student leadership. An interview with an international corporation was conducted as well in order to receive another perspective and the need for student leadership. Valuable information regarding student leadership has been concluded by using a qualitative research method where students in a leadership position were interviewed and by using a deductive approach. In conclusion, essential attributes of student leadership include high confidence in social media, high rate of relational bonds and an international model of leading. The practical implications of this study recognize the importance of a development stage that exists in the role as a student leader; for both individuals that are set to enter an international corporation and the society.

Entrepreneurship has been gotten fruitful attentions all around the world, it also has become one of the most significant engines for both national economic and social growth. The internal factors, which are able to affect entrepreneur’s behaviors during the whole entrepreneurship life cycle, are gradually becoming a hot topic in both practical and academic research fields. Especially for some of the famous researchers, such as Melissa Cardon and Mitchell, J.R. are leading the academic research of the relation between entrepreneurial emotions (e.g., passion and fear) and behaviors. In this study, our objective is to understand how passion and fear effect student entrepreneur’s behaviors when they are running their businesses at the early stage of entrepreneurship. Moreover, semi structured interview has been chosen to collect qualitative materials for this Master thesis paper. In this case, eight student entrepreneurs from Linnaeus University in Vaxjo, Sweden who are studying and running their business at the same time, or have finished their study already but started their business while they were students are selected by us for doing the interview. Furthermore, we broadly discussed about different stages of entrepreneurship, also entrepreneurial passion and fear along with entrepreneurial internal emotions such as cognition, self-regulation, self-efficacy, persistence, which could influence student entrepreneurs’ behaviors to start up their business and afterwards. Finally, after empirical analyzing we found that the bright side of passion and fear have positive effects on student entrepreneurs’ behaviors, whilst the negative effects of passion and fear can hinder their behaviors during the early entrepreneurial process.

This case study features an exploratory investigation involving capability development among technologically oriented student entrepreneurs within the University of Ottawa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Utilization took place of a mixed methods approach involving a survey of student entrepreneurs, interviews with facilitators and student entrepreneurs, and secondary data where possible. This mixed methods approach was necessary to collect a ‘thickness’ of data to justify a case study research design, including a check for robustness such as to demonstrate ‘trustworthiness’ of the data. Unique insights build on existing literature to offer a contribution to knowledge. Although the university ecosystem offered varied supporting mechanisms, perceived barriers also existed. Moreover, invariably the development of threshold rather than dynamic capabilities took place. Implications for practitioners follow from the theoretical contributions in order to facilitate a more effective university entrepreneurial ecosystem. In particular, a need exists to enhance the development of capabilities that build traction and scalability.

Bakgrund och problem: Tidigare studier har visat att så lite som 10% av de som påbörjar uppstartsprocessen av företag också lyckas slutföra den. Det innebär att det är väldigt få entreprenörer som lyckas omvandla sin idé till verklighet och därmed starta företaget. Tidigare studier har också visat att en aspekt för att nå framgångsrikt entreprenörskap är att entreprenören har en hög nivå av välutvecklat humankapital. En persons humankapital innehåller de kunskaper och färdigheter som de fått genom sin utbildning och erfarenheter. Uppsatsen undersöker studententreprenörer som har en viss nivå av utbildning men utan några entreprenöriella erfarenheter och påverkan det har på uppstarsprocessen av företag. Det finns endast få tidigare studier vars syfte har varit att undersöka studententreprenörer. Syfte och metod: Syftet med undersökningen är att undersöka betydelsen av studententreprenörers humankapital i förhållande till uppstartsprocessen av företag. Metoden som används i studien är kvalitativa empiriska intervjuer med både studententreprenörer och med personer som arbetar som entreprenörscoacher på organisationer vars mål är att hjälpa, leda och inspirera studenter till att bli entreprenörer. Intervjuerna har varit av semi-strukturell karaktär för att säkerställa att respondenten får utrymme att dela sina erfarenheter. Resultat: Resultatet av den empiriska studien visar att den låga andelen framgångsrika uppstarter främst beror på att många studententreprenörer ger upp så fort de stöter på en motgång i uppstartsprocessen. Uppstartsprocessen har också visat sig vara mindre linjär och kronologisk än tidigare studier påvisat. Istället borde uppstartsprocessen ses som en modell där de olika aktiviteterna omringar entreprenören under hela processen och där entreprenören ständigt utvecklar olika aktiviteter vid olika tidpunkter i uppstartsprocessen. Slutsats: Studiens slutsatser är att utbildningen ger studententreprenörer ökad grundläggande förståelse för olika processer och aktiviteter som uppstartsprocessen består av samt att tidigare erfarenheter hos entreprenören underlättar uppstartsprocessen. / Background and problem: Previous studies have shown that the success-ratio for entrepreneurial startups is as low as 10% which means that very few entrepreneurs succeed to transform their idea to reality and to complete a successful startup of their company. Previous studies have also shown that one aspect for successful entrepreneurship is that the entrepreneur have a high level of well-developed human capital. A person's human capital contains the knowledge and skills they have got through their education and experiences. The paper studies the effect of student entrepreneurs who have a degree of education but without any entrepreneurial experience. There are also very limited previous studies whose purpose is to study student entrepreneurs. Purpose and method: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of student entrepreneurs' human capital in relation to the startup process of companies. The method used in the study is qualitative empirical interviews with both student entrepreneurs and with people working as entrepreneurial coaches at an organization who aims to guide, help and inspire students to become entrepreneurs. The interviews have been of semistructural character to ensure that the respondents experiences are shared. Results: The findings of the empirical study shows that the poor success-rate mainly occurs because the student entrepreneurs give up as soon as they face a setback in the startup process. The startup process itself has been shown to be less linear and chronologic than previous studies has shown. Instead, it should be viewed as a model where the different activities surround the entrepreneur all the time where the entrepreneur constantly develops different activities at different points of the startup process. Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that education contributes with an extended basic knowledge about the different activities that the start-up process contains. Also, previous experience has shown to ease the star-up process.

No description available.

[ES] El interés de esta investigación se centra fundamentalmente en los siguientes aspectos. En primer lugar, exploramos cómo la literatura actual sobre el espíritu emprendedor de los estudiantes universitarios centrada en la "Global University Entrepreneurial Spirits Students Survey" (GUESSS), uno de los mayores proyectos de investigación relacionados, puede contribuir a la investigación sobre el espíritu emprendedor de los estudiantes universitarios y ayudar a los investigadores a utilizar esta base de datos. Este es el primer paso de este trabajo, ya que permitió identificar las áreas menos estudiadas en la literatura sobre el espíritu emprendedor de los estudiantes universitarios. En segundo lugar, ampliamos las investigaciones anteriores sobre los modelos de intención emprendedora (y la intención de sucesión) y vamos más allá de la intención al tomar la intención de implementación como un paso más cercano del comportamiento. Y, en tercer lugar, los resultados de este estudio ayudarían a dar consejos a las universidades, a los académicos y a los responsables políticos para construir una universidad emprendedora y, en definitiva, una sociedad emprendedora. El objetivo principal de esta investigación es contribuir al estudio de las intenciones emprendedoras de los estudiantes universitarios. Más concretamente, los objetivos específicos de este trabajo están relacionados con 1) identificar las variables centrales que influyen en el emprendimiento de los estudiantes universitarios en la literatura sobre emprendimiento centrada en el proyecto GUESSS; 2) estudiar los efectos mediadores de los componentes de la TPB entre la educación emprendedora y la intención emprendedora; 3) analizar el efecto de la educación emprendedora teniendo en cuenta el papel de la universidad, la familia y el contexto social en los componentes de la TPB como antecedentes de la intención emprendedora; 4) reducir la brecha intención-conducta añadiendo la etapa intermedia de la intención de implementación y los efectos moderadores de la orientación a la meta y 5) explorar el fenómeno de la intención de sucesión. Nuestro primer estudio muestra que la fase de intención es la etapa más estudiada del proceso empresarial. Sin embargo, existen ciertas áreas que deben ser abordadas y eso es precisamente lo que pretendemos conseguir con los siguientes estudios. Encontramos que el Aprendizaje del Programa afecta a la Intención Emprendedora a través de los componentes de la Teoría de la Acción Planificada (TAP). En este sentido, es importante destacar que las Normas Subjetivas no mediaron la relación entre el Aprendizaje del Programa y la Intención Emprendedora, sino que influyeron en la Intención Emprendedora a través de las Actitudes hacia el Emprendimiento y el Control Conductual Percibido (CCP). En cuanto a los efectos de la Educación Emprendedora, encontramos que esta variable actúa como moderadora, especialmente en la relación entre Actitudes hacia el Emprendimiento e Intención Emprendedora, Normas Subjetivas e Intención Emprendedora, y Contexto Familiar y Normas Subjetivas. A medida que avanzamos en el proceso emprendedor, nuestros resultados validaron el Modelo de Acontecimiento Emprendedor (MAE) para predecir las intenciones emprendedoras y, además, la elección de carrera emprendedora 5 años después de terminar los estudios moderó la relación entre la Intención Emprendedora y la Intención de Implementación. Por último, al analizar la Intención de Sucesión en las empresas familiares, nuestros resultados mostraron el impacto del Apoyo Parental en la Autoeficacia de la Empresa Familiar y en el compromiso con la empresa familiar. Además, nuestros resultados confirmaron un impacto positivo del compromiso con la empresa familiar en la Intención de Sucesión, especialmente el Compromiso Normativo. / [CA] L'interés d'esta investigació se centra fonamentalment en els següents aspectes. En primer lloc, explorem com la literatura actual sobre l'esperit emprenedor dels estudiants universitaris centrada en la "Global University Entrepreneurial Spirits Students Survey" (GUESSS), un dels majors projectes d'investigació relacionats, pot contribuir a la investigació sobre l'esperit emprenedor dels estudiants universitaris i ajudar els investigadors a utilitzar esta base de dades. Este és el primer pas d'este treball, ja que va permetre identificar les àrees menys estudiades en la literatura sobre l'esperit emprenedor dels estudiants universitaris. En segon lloc, ampliem les investigacions anteriors sobre els models d'intenció emprenedora (i la intenció de successió) i anem més enllà de la intenció al prendre la intenció d'implementació com un pas més pròxim del comportament. I, en tercer lloc, els resultats d'aquest estudi ajudarien a donar consells a les universitats, als acadèmics i als responsables polítics per a construir una universitat emprenedora i, en definitiva, una societat emprenedora. L'objectiu principal d'esta investigació és contribuir a l'estudi de les intencions emprenedores dels estudiants universitaris. Més concretament, els objectius específics d'este treball estan relacionats amb 1) identificar les variables centrals que influïxen en l'emprendimiento dels estudiants universitaris en la literatura sobre emprendimiento centrada en el projecte GUESSS; 2) estudiar els efectes mediadors dels components de la TPB entre l'educació emprenedora i la intenció emprenedora; 3) analitzar l'efecte de l'educació emprenedora tenint en compte el paper de la universitat, la família i el context social en els components de la TPB com a antecedents de la intenció emprenedora; 4) reduir la bretxa intenció-conducta afegint l'etapa intermèdia de la intenció d'implementació i els efectes moderadors de l'orientació a la meta i 5) explorar el fenomen de la intenció de successió. El nostre primer estudi mostra que la fase d'intenció és l'etapa més estudiada del procés empresarial. No obstant això, existeixen unes certes llacunes en la literatura que han de ser abordades i això és precisament el que pretenem aconseguir amb els següents estudis. Trobem que l'Aprenentatge dels Programes Formatius afecta a la Intenció Emprenedora a través dels components de la Teoria de l'Acció Planificada (TAP). En aquest sentit, és important destacar que les Normes Subjectives no van mediar la relació entre l'Aprenentatge dels Programes Formatius i la Intenció Emprenedora, sinó que van influir en la Intenció Emprenedora a través de les Actituds cap a l'Emprenedoria i el Control Conductual Percebut (*CCP). Quant als efectes de l'Educació Emprenedora, trobem que aquesta variable actua com a moderadora, especialment en la relació entre Actitud cap a l'Emprenedoria i Intenció Emprenedora, Normes Subjectives i Intenció Emprenedora, i Context Familiar i Normes Subjectives. A mesura que avancem en el procés emprenedor, els nostres resultats van validar el Model d'Esdeveniment Emprenedor (*MAE) per a predir les intencions emprenedores i, a més, l'elecció de carrera emprenedora 5 anys després d'acabar els estudis va moderar la relació entre la Intencions Emprenedora i la Intenció d'Implementació. Finalment, en analitzar la Intenció de Successió en les empreses familiars, els nostres resultats van mostrar l'impacte del Suport Parental en l'Autoeficàcia de l'Empresa Familiar i en el compromís amb l'empresa familiar. A més, els nostres resultats van confirmar un impacte positiu del compromís amb l'empresa familiar en la Intenció de Successió, especialment el Compromís Normatiu. / [EN] The interest of this research focuses mainly on the following aspects. First, we explore how the current literature on university student entrepreneurship focused on the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirits Students Survey (GUESSS), one of the largest related research projects, can contribute to research on university student entrepreneurship and help researchers to use this database. This is the first step in this work as it allowed as to identify the main gaps in the literature of university student's entrepreneurship. Second, we extend previous research on the entrepreneurial intention models (and succession intention) and we go beyond the intention on taking implementation intention as a closer step of behavior. And third, the results of this study would help give advice to universities, academics and policymakers to build an entrepreneurial university and in short, an entrepreneurial society. The main goal of this research is to contribute to the study of entrepreneurial intentions of university student's entrepreneurship. More specifically, the specific objectives of this work are related to 1) identify the core variables influencing university student's entrepreneurship in the entrepreneurship literature focused on the GUESSS project; 2) study the mediating effects of the components of the TPB between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention; 3) analyze the effect of entrepreneurship education considering the role of the university, family, and social context on the components of the TPB as antecedents of entrepreneurial intention; 4) reduce the intention-behavior gap by adding the middle stage of implementation intention and the moderating effects of goal orientation and 5) explore the succession intention phenomena. Our first study shows that the intention phase is the most studied stage of the entrepreneurial process. However, there are certain gaps that need to be addressed and that is exactly what we intend to achieve with the following studies. We found that Program Learning affects Entrepreneurial Intention through the components of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). In this sense, it is important to highlight that Subjective Norms did not mediate the relation between Program Learning and Entrepreneurial Intention but influenced Entrepreneurial Intention through Attitudes toward Entrepreneurship and Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC). As for the effects of Entrepreneurship Education, we found this variable acts as a moderator, especially in the relationship between Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Intention, Subjective Norms and Entrepreneurial Intention, and Family Context and Subjective Norms. As we move through the entrepreneurial process, our results validated the Entrepreneurial Event Model (EEM) to predict entrepreneurial intentions and in addition, the Entrepreneurial career choice 5 years after completing studies moderated the relationship between Entrepreneurial intention and Implementation Intention. Finally, when analyzing Succession Intention in family firms, our findings showed the impact of Parental Support in Family Business Self-Efficacy and in commitment to the family firm. Furthermore, our results confirmed a positive impact of the commitment to the family firm on Succession Intention, especially the Normative Commitment. / Jiménez Arribas, I. (2021). University Student’s Entrepreneurship: an Integrated Analysis of Entrepreneurial Intention [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/172361